the first part is really great. the events of a convict's life is presented in an interesting way. the convict finds a means to escape, sort of a meditative way, that makes him fly to far off places. but the story doesn't really develop or continue from there. instead it ends up being a bit boring, although starting promising.

I started to write a review over two years ago after I read this piece, then stopped, deciding to wait, wanting to know whether such poignant effect on my thinking and outlook could last. IT HAS! This little-known work by Jack London is a masterpiece, through which my perspective on life- in particular during times of disappointment, loss, or pain- has been placed in new and better perspective. Mr. Morrell conquers the heartless cruelties inflicted by his captors, and London's amazing talent leads the reader vicariously through it.

This is a brilliant, beautiful novel. The idea of escape from a reality of suffering is presented to the reader through wonderful short stories that are layered within the theme of a prisoner condemned to death. Particularly those who are interested in Eastern philosophy will enjoy this immensely. The rest will simply read a masterpiece. I will never forget it.

This book is the greatest hits album of professional political muckrakers. Just when you think that they can not come up with something more despicable you turn the page and - bang, one more story full of lies and broken careers. The author lays the book out chronologically so that we start with the founding father and the hits just keep on coming all the way to the current high level of performance. If you are interested in politics and follow the scene then this book is not some much shocking as it is full of "that's where they got it from". If politics is a new hobby then your opinion of these stand up citizens will not drop lower. Overall, this is a fun book that you finish quite quickly

This is a very readable and informative book about the parts of American History that never appear in the official school books. And not because of its unimportance! There's the story of Peggy Eaton, and how she caused the Civil War (p.43). How William Chancellor's home was raided by Secret Service agents who forced him to burn his papers; later the FBI seized copies of his book from libraries, stores, and salesmen, even confiscating and destroying the publication plates without any legal authorization (p.127). How the Republican National Committee shipped Harding's mistress and husband on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Far East in 1920, and a $2000 monthly payoff in hush money.

The author says that newspapers of the 1920s kept the stories about Harding unpublished because "there was no real appetite for that kind of story" (p.130). I think its more likely that 1) we now had a "secret police on the European model", and 2) the increasing monopolization of newspapers allowed more control and censorship. Some may think only some weekly newspapers market scandals, but don't recognize this as a niche market. The facts that supermarkets nationwide were told to market weekly tabloids around 1967 isn't mentioned, or the cause.

The book says movie stars replaced politicians (and the rich?) in the 1920s as objects of gossip. When Fatty Arbuckle was found not guilty of murder on the third trial after six minutes of deliberation the press wondered "about what was wrong with the system of justice and whether it was possible for a celebrity to get a fair trial in America" (p.140).

Pages 144-5 tell of the rumors and gossip about FDR: he was a drunk, going insane, addicted to drugs, even that he was a "hopeless, helpless invalid". Pages 175-6 explain how memories become improved decades after the events: reading history backwards.

Pages 183-6 tell of the Walter Jenkins scandal of Oct 1964. The author omits the fact that Walter Jenkins was a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, and served under General Barry Goldwater. LBJ's first reaction was to assume a plot to affect the election. I wonder is there's a reason for Goldwater's later statements?

In 1972 Senator Thomas Eagleton was dropped as a VP candidate when they found he had been "hospitalized three times for mental illness and depression" (p.190). Watergate opened the door to printed political gossip that has pestered, or enriched, the news from Washington DC. One effect was a huge increase in college journalism students then.

Ronald Reagan was the first president who was divorced. There was no sexual gossip about the 70 year old Reagan; nobody told of his bad memory, either. He was the first president whose staff wrote tell-all books while he was still in the White house (p.224).

Pages 228-232 discuss Senator John Tower and his failure to be voted Secretary of Defense in 1989 due to his drinking and womanizing. I heard the real reason was Senator Tower's earlier whitewash of the "Contragate" investigation; he wasn't trusted.

Pages 247-8 tell how rumors and were used to try to influence the selection of Speaker of the House circa 1990. You can watch the "Tonight Show" to see how jokes and phony videos are used to shape people's thinking on current issues. The hired tongues on local "talk radio" may provide other examples or rumors from nearly anonymous sources.

Page 267 says that people react angrily to scandals about a famous person's private life only when the reality contradicts the image. A politician known for drinking, gambling, and kissing any woman within reach can't be ruined except by a Federal indictment and conviction. A Louisiana Governor said no scandal would harm him unless he was found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.

The author says gossip meets human needs by sharing secrets that are normally hidden, etc. (p.6). I think its people's way to bring down the high and mighty as just another human. To quote from a folksong of the 60s, "even the President goes".

Gail Collins' Scorpion Tongues is, according to its subtitle, the irrestible history of gossip in American politics, and that is exactly what it is. It will be just right for the reader who will want to settle down and take pleasure in all the mud slinging of the past and for a chance to realize that neither times nor people change all that much. The book does try to give a spin to the stories in order to justify the book on more enlightened grounds of trying to show historical patterns and different eras and forms of gossip. But that is not why people are reading this book and that is not why the readers will be passing this book to their friends. It's the gossip, stupid. A scandal filled romp through American history.

"Sue walks along the seashore/warmed by the sun./Picking up seashells one by one..." Author, Marianne Berkes, takes readers on a wondrous seaside adventure in her third picture book, Seashells By The Seashore. Come count the beautiful shells, learn their names, and watch your collection grow on the lefthand border of each two page spread as you walk along the beach..... Ms Berkes lilting, rhyming text is engaging and complemented by Robert Noreika's captivating watercolor illustrations. Together, word and art send you to the beach on a hot summer day, and you'll almost be able to feel the sand between your toes, hear the crash of the waves, and smell the salty sea air. Additional information about each shell and the mollusks that live inside can be found at the end of the book, and young nature detectives, ages 4-8, will revel in this joyous, fun-filled hike along the shore.

Seashells by the Seashore had my five and seven year olds running to find shells they had already collected to discover their names. To their delight, the shells they had were featured in the book. What I particularly like about the book is its interactive nature, encouraging children to go beyond the pages and explore the seashore searching for the shells they had read and learned about. My children are planning to bring the book on an upcoming beach vacation, and the pull-out shell reference card, an added bonus.

Berkes's has done it again and this time the subject of her book is one of my favorite nature items! A truly informative book; I can finally name all the sea shells I have thanks to the descriptions within the story and glossary at the end. The unique set up of this book identifies each shell as the main character finds them which can be used to promote counting in young children, and memory/matching games for older children. Berkes also includes questions at the end to foster further investigation in the reader. The pull-out, waterproof shell identification chart merits a field trip to the beach. Noreika's breath taking watercolor illustrations illuminate the shoreline from morning to dusk. The book's poignant ending instills the value that a gift from the heart is better than a monetary one.

This is a nice companion book to the Little House series. The book is filled with diagrams of what the houses that Laura and her family lived in may have looked like, simple activities suitable for children, recipes for foods that are described in the Little House books, and other background information about the books and Laura's life. Each chapter revolves around one of the nine books in the Little House series and the book contains an introduction about Laura Ingalls Wilder. The back of the book contains a time line of different world events that were going on during Laura's lifetime. This is a nice book to read after you have read the Little House series.

This charming book is a must for Little House addicts. The partial family tree is interesting (though did Grandpa Ingalls really give two of his children the same first name? That struck me as odd). The book contains lots of recipes and activities, and a nice summary of the Ingall's family travels.
A few minor caveats, however:
Except for a brief introduction and the timeline at the end, the book follows the LH books, NOT Laura's actual life. So it isn't all factually accurate.
WHile a few of the "Little Houses" still exist, most are long gone. So the author's floor plans are imaginary, and they don't always follow the descriptions in the books. (For example, when Pa added the bedrooms onto the claim shanty at the beginning of "Little Town on the Prairie", Laura describes it as "building the other half of the house," meaning, to my mind, that the rooms should have been side by side; the same size as the original shanty room. THe author here shows them as being one behind the other, and taking up only half the legnth of the shanty.)
The recipes, while interesting, seem less historically accurate than the ones in the "Little House Cookbook." (Almanzo's "Long Winter" pancakes probably wouldn't have had eggs in them.)
And there are a few other minor factual errors, both in relation to Laura's real life and to her life as portrayed in the books.

Still a very worthwhile purchase for anyone interested in the book series.

The World of Little House is an excellent book about the history of the "Pioneer Girl", Laura Ingalls Wilder. Deborah Maze and Garth Williams did a wonderful job of illustrating the book with beautiful pictures. This book includes "How to Make Projects" such as Laura and Mary's Nine-Patch Quilt Squares along with "How to Make Recipes" such as Molasses-on-Snow Candy. Besides telling about Laura's life, the book includes interesting topics of what it was like to live in the 1860's through the 1940's. Such topics include information on general stores, prairie schools, covered wagons, medicine and housekeeping on the prairie. If you like Laura Ingalls Wilder, you must buy this book. It will be money well spent!

Read the book, it was great, saw the movie and it was good, but nothing compared to the book.... In the book, Terrorists seize Air Force One with the president, the first lady, their thirteen-year-old daughter, and more than fifty staff members.

The terrorists threaten to execute a hostage every thirty minutes if their demands are not met. Washington has a NO HOSTAGE policy and they refuse to give in to the terrorists demands. The suspense escalates from there... The president is left to protect his family with the help of some of his staff.

This is great reading material. I read it while on a nine hour flight, so that made it more intense...

Sometimes I wonder why Max Allan Collins doesn't write the scripts of the films he novelizes. His entries in the genre, including In the Line of Fire and Dick Tracy,often have better dialogue and more fleshed out characters than the films themselves (though in the character department, you couldn't really improve on In the Line of Fire). His novel Air Force One is the book the movie should have been based on. I really enjoyed the film, but, having read this fine book, I think I would have believed the film more if it was, I don't know, more like the novel! As you read the book, you'll discover there are scenes and dialogue you wish were in the film (the sequence where President James Marshall drinks a beer before takeoff becomes a funny discourse with his aides over the political mileage the President could get from drinking Russian beer as opposed to Heineken), and best of all, the characters and there motivations are a good deal more believable, somehow, on the printed page than on the silver screen, maybe because a writer can just write things as exposition that a screenwriter can't put effectively into dialogue. I've always enjoyed Mr. Collins' work, especially his series of historical mysteries about private eye Nathan Heller, and this is a great addition to his body of work. Most of the people I know would think themselves above movie novelizations, but this one is a terrific book anybody'd be glad to have read. I know I was.

If you enjoyed other great books by Collins and havent tried this well written book. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy. I read it before I saw the movie. A greay story from beginning to end.

This book is huge and is not to read for enjoyment. It is a book filled with stats, rules, and tons of information on tennis. Why would a normal person want to know all of this? He won't. Who would want to buy this? A tennis freak. What exactly is a tennis freak? He would be someone that plays tennis almost everyday if not every weekend at the very least. Someone who would play rain, snow, sleet, or shine. Someone who would tape all the best matches on TV and then analyze them frame-by-frame later. Someone whose conversation goes something like this: "Remember the lob Edberg threw over Becker on the last set, eigth game at the 1990 Wimbledon? My God, that was the turning point of the entire match!"

I have no doubt in considering Bud as the top tennis writer in the world. His passion and imense knowledge for the game of tennis is well ilustrated in this masterpiece. Any fan of tennis will take pride in owning a copy of this encyclopedia which provides the most complete information about tennis.

I enjoy Bud, despite his preference for Becker over Edberg, but all in all, a very good tennis reference. I have something called The World Encylopaedia of Tennis, but this is more comprehensive and more current. A must for anyone interested in the history of tennis.

While this is not a classic tarot configuration, it is a must for those interested in Celtic and Druidic divination systems. As a divination tool it is easy to use and amazingly intuative in it's interpretations, making it wonderful for beginners. It uses the ancient Ogham alphabet and it's corelations to the trees and other icons held dear by it's creators, the Celts. While the companion book is not long, it is very informative and concise. Background information on the history of the alphabet is researched in depth with references to many associated resources. This book is an ESSENTIAL reference to druidic symbolism. If one is not familiar with Celtic symbolism, this set will draw you in completely and inspire you to dive head first into this ancient seed of western mysticism.

But most of all, the illustrations and intuative interpretations provided are excellent. While the illustrations do not overwhelm the eye, they do impart a very profound sense of connection to the representation of the letter and it's associated icon. The interpretations are clear without being overly simplistic.

I have had this deck for years and it will always remain one of my very favorites!

I keep reading how the Celts really DIDN'T use the trees as a calender system, that this was a system invented by Robert Graves. Well, having said that, it really doesn't matter to me in the year 2002; this deck is beautiful & insightful, & I believe that if you could travel back in time & show this set to an ancient Celt or Druid, they would like it a lot!
The art work is beautiful & the box container gives it a bit more class. As the other readers have said, this deck was not designed for the typical Celtic Cross layout, but you know what? I believe you can use ANY deck ANY WAY you want! As long as your intent is there, you will get good results, as I have done withthis deck..I sometimes just pull one card from the deck to get a feel for a situation or event. I have found it to be accurate & helpful.
This deck is truly a joy to own & I'd recommend it to anyone interested in Celtic tree magic.

This amazing little set is based on the Celtic tree alphabet, the Ogham (pronounced oh-um). As one reviewer mentioned, this is not just a tarot deck with tree cards: this is a completely different divination system. The Murrays present a complex layout which I think is rather exhaustive, but gives a very clear insight. If their system is too much, though, you can use other layouts; I've had good results with the standard Celtic cross layout and the three-card spread as well. The book is well-written and informative, and each card's meaning intertwines with the history of the tree. You can also use your own associations with the trees to interpret the cards' meanings. For me, the deck is incredibly accurate, and it's the one I turn to most often for omens or other divinatory purposes. I thought the wooden box was a nice touch, too. ;)

Hollywood Wives is quite possibly the most ingenius novel since Valley of the Dolls. It's a page turner in every sense of the word--fascinating, exciting, juicy, trashy, and addicting.It definitely ranks as one of my all-time favorite novels. The author masterfully weaves various storylines together, culminating in a nailbiting conclusion, and she does it all with a tongue in cheek tone and unbearable suspense. I hope time is kind to this book, because it deserves a place in literary history. Highly Recommended, but be warned, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN!

I have a degree in English literature, so I've read volumes and volumes of the best pieces of English litererature from the past 400 years. This juicy little novel by Jackie Collins ranks as one of my all-time favorites. While some may critics dismiss it as mere trash, you cannot deny the fascinating character portrayals and unexpected back stories that reminded me of Dickens at his best. The author masterfully weaves various storylines together, culminating in a nailbiting conclusion, and she does it all with a tongue in cheek tone. I hope time is kind to this book, because it deserves a place in literary history.

This was the first Jackie Collins book I had ever read. It was a WONDERFUL adventure. Jackie introduces you to characters that will undoubtedly feel like close friends when you've completed the story. Her story flows at a very good pace to always keep you surprised. She finds ways to interject humor to keep her characters in a very "human" light.

At first, I was skeptical when presented this book; however, now I am a TRUE fan and have read over a dozen Jackie Collins' novels. It's a WONDERFUL ESCAPE............

This book is boring. It gives none of the flavor of a "gaijin" in Japan, and is very firmly set in the 80's-- with all of the economic contexts & American animosities that it implies--which none of the reviews indicate.

In what I suppose is a tongue in cheek effort, the humor just falls flat. There are so many more wonderful & entertaining books about Japan. Just say no to Max Danger.

I first read this book in the late 1980s and just re-read it again last week and I still find it an accurate protrayal of life for the American in Japan. My parents lived there, I lived there briefly as a child, ny aunt and uncle lived there for 35 years, and I've had many friends live and work there and it's all true! If you have any familiarity with the perceived quirks of Japanese culture you will enjoy this book; just don't view it as a guide to living there because it's not meant that way.

While some of the humor of Max Danger is showing its age, it still remains one of the most entertaining and educational books about the culture clash that faces a foreigner living in Tokyo.Max Danger's hilarious mis-adventures give readers a picture of Japan as it is today, rather than a romanticized portrait of a land that no longer exists. This book is a must for any westerner living in Japan, or planning to do so.

I love the television series of CSI. This book did a great job of capturing the feel of the show, but it is just not the same. It is a great book, I just believe I enjoy the television show in all its drama better than the book.

In this story, there are two murders to be solved. The first is a missing wife. Her husband is suspected for the murder, but seems to have an alibi. The second murder revolves around a stripper who is strangled on the job. Everyone seems to be blaming her ex-boyfriend, but there is too much evidence that points to a female.

No matter how crazy the murders seem, they are never to hard for the CSI's of Las Vegas. Give the book a try. It will have you turning pages faster than you realize.

The book does a very good job of capturing the feel of the show. Collins does a great job of writing dialogue that sounds as though it was lifted straight from the show and his descriptions of the characters are spot on. The book also does a great job running the dual plotlines that are most always seen on the show where the CSI's are split up into two and sometimes even three groups, each one investigating a different crime. But, most importantly, these books are a little more realistic as far as language and even plots go than the sometimes "cleaned" up stuff that airs on CBS.

I can't get enough of the TV show CSI, so I was delighted to find this book series. Gil Grissom is investigating the disappearance of a woman. Catherine is looking into the murder of a stripper. Collins has captured the characters as seen in the TV show perfectly and the humorous banter between the characters lightens the mood as it does in the TV series. I was afraid this would be a story I had seen before, but it was all new. A must read for fans of CSI.